New York City FC’s Josh Williams wasn’t benched for Saturday’s game in Colorado. The starting defender was a late scratch because of a medical issue: concerns over his history with blood clots.

Williams had started NYCFC’s first two games, in Orlando and against visiting New England, and head coach Jason Kreis had every intention of starting him against the Rapids. But at Friday’s practice in Colorado, the 26-year-old started feeling pains in the area of his previous blood clots.

The training staff sent him to the emergency room. After a battery of tests, Williams was released, with his status still up in the air.

Kreis started Shay Facey, a 21-year-old Brit on loan from Manchester City, in place of Williams in the 0-0 draw with the Rapids.

Last year, Williams opened the season as Columbus’ starter at right back – even getting the game-winning assist against DC United in the first game – and was in the lineup for the Crew’s first 11 matches. That’s when his health issues started.

Williams suffered a groin injury in June, then had a procedure to remove a blood clot in early July. He returned on July 10, practicing with a special sleeve on his right arm, only to have to undergo a second procedure relating to the clot, this time having a rib removed.

“A rib right [up high] was pinching the vein, so they took out a rib,” Columbus coach Gregg Berhalter told the Columbus Dispatch at the time. “It got upgraded in terms of the severity of it because [the earlier operation] didn’t fix it, so they had to do a procedure that would alleviate it for good. There was a high risk he would reclot with the [first] procedure they did, so they took out the rib and made space for the vein.”

Williams landed on the disabled list on July 18 following the surgery, not returning until Sept. 20. Expansion NYCFC acquired him in December for allocation money, and he quickly earned the starting right back job out of preseason training camp. But on Friday the chest pains resurfaced.

The medical staff will work on Williams during the early part of the week, and – though NYCFC has a day off Monday – Williams is expected to return to training at some point in the next few days.

Facey struggled mightily on Saturday with several giveaways and the first red card in team history.